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CAREER SUMMARY

Birth
Mason November 26th 1936
Bower January 12th 1934


Club
Sydney Figure Skating Club

Australian Championships
1950 to 1959, 1961, 1963

Olympics
1956, 1960 pair skating

World Championships
1952, 1956 pair skating

British Championships
1952, 1956 pair skating

MASON WAS BORN ON NOVEMBER 27TH, 1936 and Bower on January 12th, 1934. Twelve times Australian Pair Skating Champions between 1950–59, 1961 and 1963; twice World Championship competitors, 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games representatives. Bower withdrew from the 1956 Olympic event on the advice of doctors following a right ankle injury at practice in Cortina. He was on the ice for less than two minutes at Cortina's new Olympic Stadium when he crashed into the wooden rim of the rink on a back glide, fracturing his ankle. Jackie served for many years as an official of both the NSW and Australian Associations and was an ISU world championship judge from 1981.

Mason and Bower were placed 9th in the Pairs at the 1952 World Championships at age 15; 11th at the 1956 World Championships; and their 12th/ 13 placing in 1960 was the earliest notable result for an Australian woman at the Winter Games. This couple were among a handful of skaters to hold the British National Skating Association (NSA) Gold Medal for pair skating, and the first Australians.  They were twice Pairs Bronze Medalists in the British Figure Skating Championships, 1952 and 1956. Mervyn later turned professional to help Australian International skater, Pat Gregory, with her ice shows.

Mason was a judge in the 1979 World Figure Skating Championships in Vienna and the 1980 Winter Olympics. Speaking to The Australian at her Sydney home on March 29th, 2007, she said that in her day, it took weeks by ship and train to get to the Olympic venue, and because of the decline in condition — "you can't skate on a ship" — the competitors would allow months for such a trip. Her daughter, Simone Moore also loved international competition. While she never reached Olympic level in Australia, she competed in senior Australian championships and later went on the world circuit as a judge. Simone was 44 at the time of her death in the 2007 Sydney ferry disaster. She was a travel consultant and had three children with her husband, John: Paul at Adelaide, 15, Clarrie, 14, and Matilda, 11. John Kendall-Baker was manager of Sydney's Prince Alfred Park outdoor rink for a time. Mason and Bower were two of twenty-two inaugural inductees to Ice Skating Australia's Hall of Fame in August 2004.

01. Historical Notes
Jackie's daughter, Simone, started skating at an early age and gradually worked her way up to State and National level competition. She represented NSW at National Championships from 1978 "S 1982 and she attained the highest level of Figure Skating when she passed her Gold Medal in 1981. Simone then embarked on a Judging Career and was the youngest Australian Figure Skating Judge ever to be appointed to International Competition level. Since then she has travelled all over NSW, across Australia and around the World judging skaters of all levels from beginners to World Champions. Simone was well respected by the International Skating Union (ISU) and recognised both as a World Championship Judge and International Referee. - The Morgan Innes Foundation

02. Citation Details

Ross Carpenter, 'Mason, Jacqueline (1936- ) & Bower, Mervyn (1934-2013)', Legends of Australian Ice, Melbourne, Australia, http://icelegendsaustralia.com/bio-bower.html, accessed online .

03. Select Bibliography

"Sombre faces, but training goes on as skating world mourns lost dynasties", Dylan Welch, Sydney Morning Herald, March 30, 2007

"Generations torn apart by fatal collision", Ben Cubby, Dylan Welch and David Braithwaite, Sydney Morning Herald, March 30, 2007

"Love for the sport, life of the party", The Australian, March 30, 2007

04. Citations
Citations | 1 - 280 | 281-on |
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Mason & Bower, 1952

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Mason &Bower, 1954

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